One spare tube of toothpaste: 5 toiletry and makeup minimalist tips from a beauty writer

Last night I used the last of the toothpaste. I opened the door of the cabinet under the sink and got out a new tube. When I popped the old one in the kitchen bin, I added the item to this week’s shopping list.

This straightforward series of events left me with a deep sense of pride and satisfaction. I had a spare but not too many. The cabinet was well-stocked but not jammed full. I retrieved the new item without knocking over several other products in the process.

Veering between over-buying and under-buying

It hasn’t always been like this. When it comes to toiletries and cosmetics, I’ve swung through every stage of over-buying and under-buying. I’ve had to make a special trip for contact lens fluid when I’ve run completely dry and hoarded multiple spares because I didn’t realise there was already some in my cupboard or drawers.

The beauty writer’s dilemma

Being a beauty writer exacerbates these problems. As well as my stash of toiletries and cosmetics, I have products to review (and I keep the packaging for used items until I’ve written about them).

Keeping on top of it all is difficult, especially as I’m also committed to minimalism and mindful consumption. I try to feature eco, ethical and sustainable brands as much as possible in my work, but what’s the point if I’m creating profligate waste?

5 small steps towards saving money, space and resources

Over time, I’ve developed an approach that helps me to navigate through these issues calmly and simply without compromising my principles or my pleasure. I’ve outlined this below along – five small steps towards saving money, space and some of the earth’s resources.

1) Question what you need

I bet that every bathroom and dressing table harbours products that we buy because our parents did, or a friend recommended it, or we read a good review about it somewhere. Perhaps we assume that the mythical ‘everyone’ uses it. But do you need it?

Have a rummage through your supplies and question everything. Clue: start with the dusty and hard-to-reach items! Do you need five bath foams if you don’t like having a bath? A selection of combs and brushes if you use your fingers instead? A serum when you honestly can’t tell the difference whether you use it or not?

I eventually stopped bothering with conditioner when I realised that it just makes my hair greasy. Don’t use it, don’t buy it.

2) Know what you like

When asking what you really need, you’re likely to encounter lotions, potions, tubes or compacts that fall into the opposite camp: the stuff that you genuinely like. Enough varnishes to open a nail bar, all half used because you change the colour three times a week? The brow products that you think you look strange without? The shampoo that you add an extra dollop of because of the scent?

My well-used favourites are night cream, which I ritually slather on before bed, and red lipstick, which I feel under-dressed without. Knowing what you wouldn’t want to live without makes it easier to discern what you’re not so bothered about – and therefore can cull from your home and your shopping list.

3) The over-blown promise

A popular trick employed by advertisers to get us buying things that we don’t really need is to prey on our dreams about who we wish we were. Individual fantasies might vary but there are some standard themes such as slimmer, richer, more poised, more glamorous.

Beauty marketing is rife with aspirational allure, seeming to promise that a swipe of fat on our lips or rubbing water and chemicals in our skin will magically transform us to who we long to be. While a bit of wishful thinking is harmless enough, be alert to these tactics. No toiletry or cosmetic can fundamentally who we are.

If you love the colour or adore the smell, go ahead and buy. However if you’re looking to fix a problem or improve your life, step out of the beauty hall or toiletry aisle! Make-up and its close companions can occasionally change how you feel but they won’t transform your entire life, as I know having spent several months trying to boost my self-esteem with a very expensive bottle of primer.

4) The false economy

At the opposite end of the money scale to aspirational buying is the false economy. We see a reduced or offer sign and mistakenly tell ourselves that the product is a bargain, even if we don’t want it or need it – or worse still, don’t actually like it and won’t use it. I’ve done this with lip balm, picking up so many with a special price sticker on only to later remember that I just like Carmex and one pot will see me through half a year.

Whether it’s 50p or £50, it’s false economy. Question what you need, know what you like and buy what you intend to when you plan to. The world will not end if you find yourself a bit short of bath crème.

5) One in, one out, one spare

Closely linked to false economy is the lure of the multi buy, the BOGOF and all of the other special offers that encourage us to stock up on more. Alongside stuff we don’t we need, we often have products that are genuinely useful but feel overwhelming because we don’t need quite so many of them.

Instead of filling your cupboards with spares, spares and mores spares, trying buying the next moisturiser/shampoo/eye liner/whatever when you start on the last of your stockpile. Depending on how quickly you or your household get through a particular item, you might need to modify this, perhaps purchasing your next lot when you’re down to two or three.

Developing your own buying schedule helps you to arrive at that elusive sweet spot where you have just enough of something.

Sounds exactly like me! I have been trying to rein in my toiletry buying ever since I started keeping close track of how much time and money I spent shopping for them, and money wasted on trying all the new items regardless of whether I really needed them or the ingredients were right for me. I am sticking to what I know works for me. I have finally resolved to use up what I have and not buy more until I have almost run out. I have also bought a small cosmetic spatula to get every drop out of the bottles and have been cutting open tubes. There is often a week or twos’ worth of product still left.

One of the benefits of getting older is caring less and less what others think of me and embracing and loving myself as I am. Although I do like highlighting my best features with makeup, I apply much less than I used to and will often go confidently without, especially on weekends. I also found that eating healthy, exercising, meditating, and getting proper sleep leave my skin in great shape so I need less product in the first place.

A post that’s right up my street just now. I’ve been challenging myself through May to spend no more than £100 on food for two of us. The idea is that I use up some of the excess we have in the over stocked freezer and cupboards. I’m repeating the exercise for June. I’m just as bad with toiletries too so need to address this also. Why do we do it?

£100 per month on food for a couple is a tall order! Great that you can use up what you have. With toiletries, in particular, it’s all too easy to acquire duplicates. Having an uncluttered bathroom helps avoid this.